1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to novel salty-taste or salting compositions that can take the place of conventionally used salt or table salt. This invention is also concerned with salty-taste or salting seasonings or condiments wherein the salt compositions are added to conventional seasonings.
2. Background Art
Salt or table salt as used hitherto consists of approximately 100% of sodium chloride. It has long been pointed out that the Japanese people tend to take too much salt owing to the intake of the traditional Japanese foods, inclusive of soybean paste, soy sauce and pickles, which are prepared with large quantities of salt.
Sodium chloride itself is in no way harmful or hazardous to the human body but rather supplies Na (sodium) and Cl (chlorine) that are requisite for maintenance of the physiological functions of the human body. As is well known, however, a serious problem of imbalance is often encountered in the intake between sodium and potassium in high sodium but low-potassium diets, which imbalance has mainly been the cause of hypertension that is of grave concern in the diseases of adult people.
Consequently, it is strongly recommended to have the restricted intake of salt. But the poorly salt-seasoned dishes prepared with a reduced amount of salt do not taste good, thus diminishing one's appetite. For the purpose of reducing the salt intake, while maintaining a proper degree of salty taste, it has been proposed to use potassium chloride as a partial replacement for table salt. Nevertheless, potassium chloride possesses particular bitterness, and when added to foods, it severely spoils and impairs their tastes. A variety of countermeasures were devised so as to eliminate the bitterness of potassium chloride: for example, the addition of calcium chloride or magnesium chloride was reported in the Japanese Patent Publication No. 15299/1985. Yet, all of them to date have turned out to be far from being satisfactory.